Top 10 Signs That You Have Anxiety

Anxiety is a normal part of everyday life. For example, we may feel anxious on a first date, during an interview or when speaking in public. For some people though anxiety takes over their lives to the extent that they almost always feel anxious to a greater or lesser degree.

To say
whether or not you have an anxiety disorder you need to look at how often you
feel anxious and in what situations that you feel anxious. If you are feeling
anxious in situations that would not normally warrant being anxious and overly
focus on one or more issues, for example what other people think of you then
you may have an anxiety disorder.

So, what are
the other ‘Top 10 signs’ that you may have an anxiety disorder.

Number 1 Insomnia

Anxious
people often have trouble falling and staying asleep on a consistent basis.
Statistics show that half of people who have a generalised anxiety disorder
suffer from some form of insomnia. Another common sign is that you wake up in
the middle of the night and your mind is racing, and your mind will simply not
switch off no matter what you try to do.

Number 2 Irrational Fears

Some anxiety
isn’t generalised at all and it usually attached to a specific thing, which is
usually irrational in nature. For example, some people fear crowded places. The
‘tell tail sign’ is that the fear becomes over whelming and can manifest in
terms of a panic attack, sweating, shaking etc.

Number 3 Excessive Worry

We all worry
about things from time to time, be it to do with relationships, money, problems
at work etc. The hallmark of a generalised anxiety disorder is when we worry
excessively. This means we persistently focus on one particular issue over and
over again for most of the week. This is normally associated with high levels
of fatigue. Sally Winston co director of the Anxiety and Stress Disorder
Institute makes a clear distinction between normal levels of anxiety and a
generalised anxiety disorder. “The distinction between an anxiety
disorder and just having normal anxiety is whether your emotions are causing a
lot of suffering and dysfunction”

Number 4 Muscle Tension

Muscle
tension in your jaw from grinding your teeth, or throughout your body as a
result of flexing your muscles can be a sign of anxiety. This symptom may have been a persistent
ailment, so much so that people may have stopped noticing it after a time.

Regular
exercise can help relieve the tension, but may reoccur if a person stops
exercising.

Number 5 Indigestion

Anxiety
often manifests itself in the body as a physical symptom, one of which is
chronic indigestion. Irritable bowel syndrome is associated with anxiety. Often
people with IBS have stomach aches, constipation, gas, and or diarrhoea.

Number 6 Stage Fright

Public
speaking is difficult for most people, for people with anxiety it is infinitely
more difficult. The fear is so strong
that no amount of coaching or practice will help them out of it.

People who
suffer from chronic anxiety often worry for days or weeks about a particular
event. If they manage to go through with it they are often very uncomfortable,
and worry incessantly afterwards about how other people perceived them.

Number 7 Self Consciousness

People who
have social anxiety often feel very self-conscious in social situations. They
feel like all eyes are on them and often experience, trembling, blushing or
excessive sweating. This becomes so deliberating that it often makes forming
relationships difficult.

Number 8 Panic Attacks

Panic
attacks can be terrifying, the sensation very uncomfortable as if you are
having a heart attack or as if somebody is squeezing your heart. People who
experience these don’t necessarily have an anxiety disorder, but people who
experience them frequently almost certainly do.

Number 9 Flashbacks

Reliving a
traumatic event over and over again can be a sign of anxiety, more specifically
post traumatic stress disorder. People with social anxiety are also likely to
suffer from PTSD type flashbacks, that may not obviously seem traumatic, such
as being publicly ridiculed.

Number 10 Self Doubt

People who
have generalised anxiety disorder and OCD often doubt themselves. They often
ponder questions to themselves and become intolerant of uncertainty, that turns
the questions asked by themselves into an obsession.